Disguising Price Increases(No Politics Please)

[worth1]

Has anyone seriously considered paying over 100 dollars for a brisket?
I sure haven't.

[karstopography]

HEB here had USDA Choice whole vacuum packed brisket at $1.96/# the other day. I got one, the smallest they had at 14 pounds. The meat guy said he was going to check on what they had in the back, but I never saw him again and decided 14# would work. Most of the briskets they had were huge, seems like one might have been 22 pounds. I usually like them to be 10 to 12 pounds or so.

If I am going to the trouble to put a brisket on the BGE for a slow cook, I have found Choice or Prime comes out at the end better than Select.

But, I like to keep it under $40 for a brisket.

[worth1]

If I bought one I would render the fat and cut the rest up into stew meat and pressure can it.

[karstopography]

I had some brisket chili con carne and ground brisket makes for good ground beef for chili. I don’t care enough about or eat enough corned beef or pastrami to try and do my own. Beef tallow is good to cook in. We don’t eat much stew. Wife isn’t much on beefy stews.

Doing the brisket around 250°on indirect heat on the BGE with a little post oak chunk and lump charcoal, a rub of coarse fresh ground pepper, sea salt, maybe a little garlic and paprika, and pulling it when it gets to 203° and is temperature probe tender, that’s the well trodden path to brisket bliss around my house.

[worth1]

It's been forever since I've seen brisket for under 2 dollars a pound.
Most are running 3 a pound and much more.
Back when it was relatively cheap Franklin was selling his for I think 20 a pound or some such thing.

I'm almost afraid to see what cooking oil has gone up to.
My last gallon was up to 8 dollars or so and that's been awhile.
I normally have one opened and two in stock.
Are restaurants going to run their oil longer before they get rid of it?
I normally toss mine after the 2nd use.
That's when I see the frying bubbles start to get smaller.

[slugworth]

https://apnews.com/article/india-prices ... ket-newtab

[karstopography]

Peanut oil at HEB is something like $13-14/gallon.
We fry in Peanut oil. We have EVOO for some other uses. Almond oil gets used for baked sweets and cakes. Avocado oil is also in the mix of what we will use. Coconut oil is the only other one we have on hand. Superior for making popcorn.

[GoDawgs]

Most all the stores around here carry Lou Ana brand which is what I use. As I don't do a lot of deep frying, the last time I bought a gallon was in February and it was $14.84. Right now it's $18.28 a gallon at WalMart, a 23% increase. I made the mistake of trying Wal-Mart's brand one time and won't repeat that error. They do have a three gallon box of Lou Ana which averages $15 a gallon but it would probably get an off taste due to being real old by the time I went through that much!

Depending on what it's used for I strain mine after use and keep that in the refrigerator, reusing it generally about three times.

[worth1]

Who here has had a 23% increase in their income?
With so many people living hand to mouth in this country I don't see the end turning out very well.

As for the larg box of oil I never buy them.
Yes you can keep oil a long time in the freezer but who has room for one of these things in the freezer.
It isn't even economically feasible.
Any savings you may have gained would be ate up in the cost of electricity plus more.
These large boxes of oil are a savings when you have big fryers going that need that much oil.

Other things like rice will last for years.
But you have to be careful when you buy larger quantities of anything.
We as a nation have been lead to believe that larger items in bulk cost less.
This isn't always true.
I can't count how many times the exact opposite was true.
They will even have special on the larger items but 4 of the smaller items that sometimes actually make up more volume costs less added up.

This isn't always the case but all too often it is.

Here is yet another hidden price increase I heard about.
Added charges at restaurants at the end of the meal.
Typically you order your meal and expect to pay a tax and tip the wait staff.
Now people are seeing other charges added on.
Things like kitchen staff appreciation charges and the likes.
This is a way to hide the fact that you are paying for wage increases and or insurance over the top of the actual cost of the meal.
Just add it to the overall cost of the meal not stick people unknowingly at the end of the meal.
Its underhanded and dishonest to say the least.

[worth1]

I also can't think of a better time for everyone to start eating more healthy.
With the rising costs of food mostly meat we could do a lot worse than just reducing the amount we eat.
Stop eating out which I don't anyway.
And eating more healthy options.
I never met a fat lower income working person in my life growing up.
There wasn't one fast food place in my home town.
Everyone ate a small amount of meat and had lots of beans peas potatoes and other healthy options.
Personally I ate probably 4000 calories a day but worked my tail off on the farm.
Weighed 135 pounds when I graduated from high school.
Nothing but muscles and a washboard stomach from cutting wood and busting rocks in the winter and hauling hay in the summer.
Now we have people crying the blues over the high cost of fast food and the rising cost of soda pop.
Really.

[pepperhead212]

I haven't gone to a restaurant since April 2019, when my sister passed away, and a bunch of us got together. So restaurants are lucky not everyone is like me.

I always lose some weight in the summer, with all the vegetables I eat, often going many days in a row as a vegetarian, though not thinking about it that way. Even in the off season, I don't eat much meat, and the things that do have it, it's spread out, over several helpings.

I feel for the people that are trying to eat well, with the prices going up so much, but they don't have a clue as to how to cook, and save money that way. This is how I first got into cooking - when I went away to school, and there was a co-op I joined, and learned how to make countless things from scratch, and save a lot of money doing it!

[seasyde]

What used to be a pound of coffee beans became 12 oz a couple of years ago. Now some of them are down to 10.5 oz.

[Amateurinawe]

Shrinkflation is a clever tactic. Then if you later inflate prices, no-one knows where you are.

[bower]

Last time I shopped they had put the newly packaged overpriced coffee on special for $12 the 900 g, so I got two. The luxury of being able to buy two when it's on special is something I truly appreciate. It is not the deep pockets that are stuck paying the highest price. At least in my store, I know sooner or later they will mark it down periodically to clear out their stock. As long as you can wait for that and take advantage of it, you're good.
However there's a difference in the specials already noted - they are not taking as much off.
Latest price jump my favorite tinned apricots used to be 3 for $6 they are now 3 for $7.
I haven't run out of Hellman's yet, thanks to my stashy lifestyle, but I haven't seen it go on special yet either...$7.99 a bottle is crazy. It's still possible I may end up eating less of those things that just went too expensive and stayed there.
Speaking of hikes the price of liquor here has taken a big jump. $12 bottle of wine is now on special for $14. Ouch.
My grocery store however is also bringing in some new items which are excellent bargains. For example they're selling a huge bag of frozen squid rings for $10, over a kilo it's 2.25 lb, and I'm getting a good few meals out of one of those bags.

[Amateurinawe]

@Bower a canny shopper if ever there was one. I would wait for weeks then buy up loads until the next reduction came. But with a restriction of three items per shop had to do multiple visits.

[bower]

@Amateurinawe I have learned these lessons in harder times, when I didn't have a stash and sometimes had to choose between which of three depleted staples I would buy that week. I might get the special on something like coffee one shopping trip but then be forced to pay full price the next time, because I couldn't afford to buy two when they were low.
For various values of duress, and never breaking down, it was the shopping trips that actually brought tears to my eyes. I guess I love food more than anything.

[worth1]

I heard on the radio this morning that the reason for the reduction in the weight of a can of coffee beans is because they are of a lighter weight or some such rot.

[GoDawgs]

People used to snicker at preppers stocking up on stuff. "A bunch of crazies and conspiracy folks". Who's grinning now?

[slugworth]

Potato chip bags are down to 8oz
We are quickly approaching personal size bags.

[worth1]

People used to snicker at preppers stocking up on stuff. "A bunch of crazies and conspiracy folks". Who's grinning now?

I had to wait on a new card to come in and didn't go to the store for anything for two weeks.
Didn't even knock a dent in my supplies.